# They don't make 'em like they used to **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [December 15, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824 "2025-12-15T20:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Matrix\_Engineering](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/matrix_engineering/32/19781_2.png) [@Matrix\_Engineering](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Matrix_Engineering)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/1 "2025-12-15T20:31:34Z")
I won apprentice of the year in 2008, and my prize was a Fujitsu-Siemens laptop. At the time, and until Win XP went obsolete, I used it for Logix 5K (V18), Logix 500, and general daily use. I dug it out recently as my rally car (Subaru Impreza) ECU software is on it, 2009 era, needs a USB dongle, Serial DB9 lead, and Win XP only. I used VM ware tool to make my physical laptop into a VM, spun this up on a Win 11 laptop, and whilst it loaded the ECU software, it wouldn't datalog and would lose comms after a few minutes. As my 2008 XP laptop was plugged in for the VM conversion, I unplugged it, and to my surprise still had battery. I went for a 30-minute drive, datalogging to XLS, came home and still had battery left. ![WhatsApp Image 2025-12-15 at 20.24.56](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/e/7/e73914ace84f33ac259a98841d19fec32a516794.jpeg) Probably the best laptop I've ever had. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 8:41pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/2 "2025-12-15T20:41:58Z")
I've succeeded tricking a Linux VM to offer what the VM thinks is a physical serial port, provided by a FTDI-based USB serial converter. In **DOS**. Via KVM, not any commercial hypervisor. You need to run Linux on bare metal to do this sort of advanced emulation. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Stone](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/david_stone/32/79749_2.png) [@David\_Stone](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/David_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/3 "2025-12-15T20:57:25Z")
I just switched my work laptop to Linux now. Even in an O365 environment its still better than W11. Running VMs is substantially faster and more efficient. Even hardware passthrough is more reliable than W10 hosts. ---
**Author:** ![michael.flagler](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/michael.flagler/32/26272_2.png) [@michael.flagler](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/michael.flagler)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 4:17am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/4 "2025-12-16T04:17:16Z")
I've thought about giving Linux a run as a daily driver on an old laptop just to see if I could get used to it or make it work. There's just too many distros. I liked Kubuntu when I've used it, and Zorin is pretty. I'm more familiar with Ubuntu/Debian tools like apt, but just need to take the time to play with them more. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Stone](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/david_stone/32/79749_2.png) [@David\_Stone](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/David_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 5:04am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/5 "2025-12-16T05:04:53Z")
Ubuntu is the go right now, authd (which provides M$ Entra authentication) doesn't interact with klockscreend properly, so otherwise I would be on the Kubuntu train. There is not too much setup involved either ---
**Author:** ![tgarrison](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/tgarrison/32/80965_2.png) [@tgarrison](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/tgarrison)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 1:00pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/6 "2025-12-16T13:00:18Z")
Ubuntu, Linux Mint both solid. For 99% of the people that do nothing with their computer other than open a web browser, they wouldn't even know they weren't on windows. ---
**Author:** ![pascal.fragnoud](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pascal.fragnoud/32/24728_2.png) [@pascal.fragnoud](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pascal.fragnoud)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 1:17pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/7 "2025-12-16T13:17:46Z")
I'm an Arch guy, but it's not for everyone. Though there are "easy versions". I tried Manjaro a few years ago, it was pretty good but had some issues. There are others but I'm not up to date. And Debian for remote servers. Sometimes it's annoying not to have the latest things in the official repo, but then you remember that's why you pick Debian in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![tgarrison](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/tgarrison/32/80965_2.png) [@tgarrison](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/tgarrison)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 1:21pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/8 "2025-12-16T13:21:39Z")
You don't go full Gentoo and compile everything with your exact compiler flags? Tried that for a bit.. got old... Haven't tried Arch.. ---
**Author:** ![Matrix\_Engineering](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/matrix_engineering/32/19781_2.png) [@Matrix\_Engineering](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Matrix_Engineering)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 2:43pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/9 "2025-12-16T14:43:53Z")
I’ve been running Linux bare metal for my servers, some Debian some Ubuntu. For all my Edge installs, I use Ubuntu. Windows 11 is it for me, any laptop that had a 10 license and met the spec will go win 11 once the extended 10 support ends. After that, it’s likely Ubuntu for all laptops too. ---
**Author:** ![pascal.fragnoud](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pascal.fragnoud/32/24728_2.png) [@pascal.fragnoud](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pascal.fragnoud)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 8:50am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/10 "2025-12-17T08:50:46Z")
The nerd has to meet the lazy at some point, and compiling is where that point is for me. I did compile a few things to play with them, but that's it. Arch is... documented. You can find solutions to pretty much everything on the arch wiki. ---
**Author:** ![tgarrison](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/tgarrison/32/80965_2.png) [@tgarrison](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/tgarrison)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 1:24pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/11 "2025-12-17T13:24:38Z")
Yup, that was my point as well after messing around with it when I had lots more time available.. ---
**Author:** ![paul.longtine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul.longtine/32/10599_2.png) [@paul.longtine](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul.longtine)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 5:48pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/12 "2025-12-17T17:48:53Z")
What events do you go to with your Subaru? ---
**Author:** ![Matrix\_Engineering](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/matrix_engineering/32/19781_2.png) [@Matrix\_Engineering](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Matrix_Engineering)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 5:53pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/13 "2025-12-17T17:53:25Z")
I won the Sprint Championship in 2017, haven’t used the car much since. Yesterday I received a Roger Clarke 400 BHP Billet turbo with track attack thermal jacket. Next year I plan on some sprints, and my first hillclimb (I live near one). But likely won’t do a full championship of either. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/c/f/cfcfabbc9deaff49aeaf84b8581fed80e8200fc0.jpeg) ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/3/1/31f9f539ab119ad15f47961ee5bc0efe61a19114.jpeg) ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/e/a/ea9141030813db04dfbe7783ec9baed4895fce7e.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![paul.longtine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul.longtine/32/10599_2.png) [@paul.longtine](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul.longtine)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 6:08pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/14 "2025-12-17T18:08:35Z")
Sweeet. You ever think about prepping the car for a ARA/NASA logbook? ---
**Author:** ![Matrix\_Engineering](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/matrix_engineering/32/19781_2.png) [@Matrix\_Engineering](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Matrix_Engineering)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 6:22pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/15 "2025-12-17T18:22:02Z")
> [@paul.longtine](#): > > ARA/NASA I’m in (Northern) Ireland. Here we have MSA (Motor Sports Association) and FIA. I’m not familiar with your acronyms. ---
**Author:** ![paul.longtine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul.longtine/32/10599_2.png) [@paul.longtine](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul.longtine)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 6:25pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to/112824/16 "2025-12-17T18:25:42Z")
Ah my bad, for some reason I thought you were US based. ARA/NASA are sanctioning bodies for stage rallies on this side of the pond